WASHINGTON – NOVEMBER 30: Hundreds of American flags are displayed on the National Mall as part of a campaign by gay rights lobbying groups including the Log Cabin Republicans, Liberty Education Forum, Servicemembers Legal Defense Network, and the Human Rights Campaign November 30, 2007 in Washington, DC. The groups planted the flags on the anniversary of the signing of the “Don’t Ask Don’t Tell” law, with one American flag for each soldier discharged from military service due to their sexuality.

Barring a last-minute delay, tomorrow marks a milestone in the history of this country, as gay and lesbian men and women will be allowed to openly serve in our armed services.

The day should be viewed in historical context alongside decisions to open enlistment for women in the 1970s and the move to end racial segregation in the military in 1948.

President Bill Clinton signed the “don’t ask, don’t tell” law in November 1993 as a compromise between those who supported allowing openly gay troops and those who wanted continuation of the policy that allowed for discharge based solely on sexuality.

The premise was that gay soldiers would be allowed to serve so long as they kept their sexual orientation hidden.

It was a failed policy based on misguided notions of “troop disruption” that unintentionally threatened national security because of the discharge of capable troops in wartime, and created situations in which soldiers were blackmailed.

Since its inception nearly 18 years ago, more than 14,000 men and women were kicked out of the military for nothing more than their sexual orientation, according to the Servicemembers Legal Defense Network.

As The Denver Post reported in 2010, an estimated 66,000 gay soldiers, sailors and airmen serve in the military.

President Barack Obama signed the bill repealing the law in December and, in July, the Defense Department announced that it would terminate in 60 days, which is Tuesday.

In our view, it’s about time. Not so for those who would see this horrible policy continue, however. On Thursday of last week, House Armed Services Committee Chairman Buck McKeon, R-Calif., and Rep. Joe Wilson, R-S.C., asked Defense Secretary Leon Panetta to delay Tuesday’s repeal, saying the process had been rushed and is not ready for implementation.

The Pentagon rightly rebuffed the last-ditch request, saying the issue had been subject to “rigorous certification.”

“It’s been studied, and the conclusion is clear — it’s past time for repeal,” Sen. Mark Udall, who helped lead the repeal fight in the Senate, told the congressional newspaper The Hill.

Absolutely.

The origins of “don’t ask, don’t tell” were based largely on ignorance and discriminatory fears. With its demise, we must take the fight to other laws crafted in that same vein.

Nationally, the federal Defense of Marriage Act comes to mind. In the Senate, Democratic Sens. Udall and Michael Bennet are co-sponsors of a measure that would repeal it. Reps. Diana DeGette, D-Denver, and Jared Polis, D-Boulder, have signed on to a companion measure in the House.

At the state level, that means passing legislation that creates legally recognized civil unions until such time as voters agree to the repeal of Amendment 43, the 2006 measure that outlawed gay marriage in the state.

We are on the path to progress in America. But we will not reach the end point until we have removed all of those barriers that penalize our brothers and sisters, our sons and daughters, based solely on their sexual orientation.

There’s been way more than enough written about Donald Trump’s battle with kneeling football players — especially with a major crisis underway in Puerto Rico — but one thing really does bother me that’s been revealed during this brouhaha: the extent to which many Americans have accepted the anti-democratic and false equivalence of patriotism and the military.